The economic growth, along with the rise in wages and purchasing power led to the first decline in market share for the private label products after more than a decade of steady growth.
The FMCG market is put at EUR17 billion to EUR18 billion a year, so private label product sales can be estimated at EUR2.6 billion to EUR2.7 billion, according to ZF’s calculations.
The total sales of such products branded as Pilos (Lidl), Aro (Metro Cash & Carry) and 365 (Mega Image) rose in value because the FMCG market grew last year. Their share in the total sales, however, went down. Total consumer spending rose faster than the spending on private label products.
“Private labels accounted for 15.3% of the FMCG market in the first quarter of 2017, down 0.3% on the year-ago period,” said Raluca Raschip, consumer goods & retail director with market research company GfK Romania.
The statement confirms a trend noticed by analysts and executives in grocery retail in the past year, the up-trading. Consumers have been going for more expensive products and the price is no longer the main factor when buying something.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)